Notes on Fallen Empires by Snow Patrol

I know this isn't your typical indie or typical alternative its soft rock "What Soft Rock!!?" and i know the release date of the album was in 2011 for the Europeans but here in "merika" it just released so yeah... well times have changed and i got into snow patrol right when i was into coldplay a band i now dislike. when i first heard Snow Patrol they were about to release an album called Up to Now which had a snow flake and it was the last Ive heard from them for a really long time. Eyes open was a great album but that wasn't the start of their career actually they started to do stuff when i was a little slobbering child in 1994. Its amazing what has happened to the indie rock band from then to now. First they got a big break with the album songs for polar bears but then after they got dropped from the record label they went through some really rough times its mere luck the band kept going even after the band played for about 20 people at a strip club ouch! well anyway it was around this time that they started getting ideas then bam one day they got signed by fiction and then the band started back up. now in this album i was expecting more shabby pop influenced songs in the style of the fray or coldplay and i wasn't too excited on reviewing them but then i listened to the album and it seemed way better then i imagined.

Track review:

1.I'll Never Let Go: You can already hear a different sound from the band with the techy sounds with the guitars and really loud bass drum its almost into the realm of Electronica but not quite i like the sound its very catchy and i think the lyrics are just the same way better than some of the lyrics prior.

2.Called Out In The Dark: This was the first single and I've heard it on the radio several times and i was happy to listen to it again its a very great song and the vocals are Brilliant the chorus super and the subtle techy sounds just enough to knock you down its a definite listen if you haven't heard it already.

3.The Weight Of Love: This acoustic starting sound is really great it builds up and the other guitars enter and the bass drums and choir of voices really get this song going.

4.This Isn't Everything You Are: this song starts off with more piano and it isn't as easy to dance to, its really calm this is the snow patrol i know from the past. It sounds just like the early work and its not bad its the best song I've heard with their old sound intact.

5.The Garden Rules: The piano start is really great and this song is really tame and its very well fitted into this album and i think this songs incorporation of violin and other stringed instruments is the highlight of the song alongside the greater presence of female vocals than before.

6.Fallen Empires: This song has some fast piano playing if its piano well it sounds like piano I'm assuming it is. the song has tech in it so I'm not sure but its a very quickly paced song and it has the same beat for the whole song minus the last minute.

7.Berlin:This song starts off with acoustic Guitar and then the bass drum follows. Then vocals start and the drumming gets more complex and there are more voices added to the mix. Its a nice little short song and it has really great progression.

8.Life-ning: I heard this song was really the song to listen because Lightbody put a great deal of work into this song Ive heard and its a great song and i agree its a highlight you must listen to.

9.New York: The start is just like Garden Rules don't you agree? well the piano is louder and his vocals go into another range that Garden Rules didn't have. I also see the progression of the song gets steadily louder as it goes along and i can agree as to why its a single it is a great song. The lyrics are just as great as the mood of the song.

10.In The End: "we lost the magic that we once had" man those lyrics really sting you like a manta ray and they poison you with that feeling of having lost love and the after feeling of "its over"

11.Those Distant Bells: More acoustic and an added layer of vocals with more female vocals entering the song and this is some really great singing don't you agree?

12.The Symphony: This is a strange song its like very techy and it doesn't sound like it fits in this spot on the album really and its a good song but it just doesn't seem in its place. Another thing this song is really long it is six minutes long and it has really good rhythm but it just doesn't fit well in that spot of the album.

13.The President: Calm like the other songs before the Symphony, its really good the piano the background of strings. Its really tame and it isn't really surprising to say its a perfect ending to a great album.

14.Broken Bottles Form A Star (Prelude):This song is short and it is very quick it has really fast piano playing, strings in the background, and the guitar barely heard just as quick as it starts the album ends and your left wanting a longer song.

Verdict:
OK so i really didn't expect to like the album any more than the stuff the made before but i think that with this release they really changed something, call it the lyrics, the style, the influence of tech or call it the new band member Johnny McDaid but they have something in this album they didn't have before that.

RATING: ♪♪♪♪/♪♪♪♪